Period

I am nearer to you than yourself to yourself.

Rumi

I like that. A lot. It's short, to the point, and trickier than it appears. Every time i read it i'm brought to a stop. Reading it is like driving over a speed bump, the words flow seamlessly through the mind until that period shows up, at which time i smile and say to myself, "Whoa, slow down fella, it's bumpier here than it looks."

Why? Just by virtue of reading that sentence, there is dualism involved. "I'm" reading "it." I'm in here and it's out there. I'm out here, in my chair, and the words are in there, in the monitor. Plus, my brain feels compelled to comment every time that we all know there is no separation, that I and You are not separate, just like yourself and yourself aren't separate. But this again just points out the duality involved. Something feels compelled to point out the discrepancy, meaning that there is that something and that discrepancy. Separation. Duality. Nonsense. Again. Still.

With this very short sentence, Rumi is rubbing our noses in our intellectuality, because that's probably how most of us react to it. We intellectualize our understanding of it's truth. We wonder what it means to be nearer to you than yourself to yourself. We formulate answers. We come up with metaphors. We end up with paragraphs, pages, and books pointing out how true the words are.

Is that what Rumi wanted? Is that the reaction he would have hoped for? As long as there is I and You, there is no nearness. As long as there is Yourself, there is no nearness. As long as there is Nearness, there is no nearness. If nearness exists, you miss Rumi's point. As soon as you agree with him, you show your ignorance. I take exception to every word in the sentence, and wish he had simply said.

.

Rumi

(Then again, that first try could have just been a mis-translation and this is what he really said.)




DHS 37/100